Shades of Red
by omega1979
Summary: The signs that Yondu Cares part 3. Based on a kinkmeme, which I totally messed up because I can't tell the difference between Kraglin and Yondu! A little drabble of how a red coat can become a bonding experience!


**Based on a kinkmeme, which I screwed up as it was meant to be Kraglin and not Yondu! Oops! May have to do a rewrite in the future . **

**Please review xx**

**Shades of Red**

The first thing Peter Jason Quill every noticed about Yondu was his long red coat, swishing in the air like a cape as he informed the boy that he was going to be a Ravager. From the tone of the voice, there was no choice in the matter, as the confused eight-year-old was led from the main cell to the rest of the ship.

Terrified he held out his right hand, hoping the big man with the blue skin would hold it, instead of staring straight ahead. in the end, Peter held on to the red coat, which caused the man he would learn was called Yondu Udonta to look down, but say nothing as he walked him through the ship, and through to the bunk he would now live.

Peter looked at the room and the other faces and gripped his hand tighter to the coat, in the end Yondu had to wrestle the boys hand off it, bitching about the "Kralmimean Leather was going to get ruined". Leaving Peter all alone in the bunk.

Thus begun Peter's new life as a Ravager.

**Red is the Colour**

"Why do Ravagers wear red coats?"

Yondu was sitting in the mess hall with the boy, who was trying to find something to eat that would satisfy his tender Terran palate, in the four months he had been on the ship, all he had done was sweep the decks and do laundry, each day an abundance of red to go through.

"It hides the blood stains". Yondu supplied after a few seconds as he drunk his Xandarian coffee, which just left the boy looking confused, and Yondu to raise his eyes "What now?" He asked the boy.

"Why not black, that also hides blood stains and dirt too". The answer was innocent but managed to annoy Yondu. "Because I'm the Captain of the Ravagers and I decided on red…it makes us stand out." "So you wear it to look awesome?" Supplied Peter with an impish grin on his face. "I knew it, I knew it. All you Ravagers are tarts".

Peter claimed to the men in the vicinity, using a word he had recently learned who just laughed. A second later the empty cup narrowly missed Peter's head by an inch who didn't notice, as it clanged to the wall behind him " So when do I get a coat like yours?" He asked the Captain, who could only scoff. "This…never. This is one of the finest coats in the Universe, I had to kill a man for this coat, you can wear what you want. But this coat…never". Peter seemed content at this information, and stepped away to retrieve the tin cup that could have scarred him a minute earlier, as Yondu swore he heard in his head...even though the eight year old never said it out loud "We'll see".

**A Day out with Dad**

"How come I take you on a supply run, and you decide to piss off the locals…Tell me that boy" . Yondu demanded as the pair tore through the back alley, all four of them in pursuit " For the last time, I didn't think they were serious about eating me" . Ten-year-old Peter said as he gasped for air, as for a good few minutes they were running. Yondu know all the back alleys, so Peter was playing catch up. "Well, I tell you all the time, we're going to eat you…do you think I was joking about that?" Peter deliberately kept his mouth shut, knowing that he had never taken that seriously for the last two years as Yondu came to the dead-end of the alley, stopped and grinned.

"What are we going to do?" Peter whispered, his breath catching up with him as he surveyed the brick wall.

"You, you're going to do nothing", as Yondu slipped off his red coat and pushed Peter to the wall. "Kneel down, and do not move, he ordered, as the heavy leather was thrown over Peter who could see nothing apart from the sea of red, as several heavy boots got closer and he clinched his body tighter in fear.

"Where is the Terran, Udonta?" On of the Darbian's demanded, there were four of them, all taller and stronger than Yondu as Peter swore he could hear the not so innocent shrug in the Captains's voice.

"Terran…what's a Terran? Can't a Captain take a nice stroll away from his ship in a fine alley?" Yondu's tone neither serious nor sarcastic so Peter couldn't read it without seeing his face.

"Don't bullshit me Udonta, we know you have a Terran boy in your crew and we wants him". Another of the Darbian's said.

"Oh really". Peter knew Yondu was standing there with his arms crossed his head cocked to one side, and couldn't suppress the grin. "Why do such fine gentlemen like yourselves want with a Terran anyway?" Asked Yondu, with false sincerity.

"Well, we thought we'd have a little taste, and then perhaps sell him to a Collector. Terran will fetch a large price, give us a little taste and we'll go halves" Came the voice from the third, which led to someone slapping him on the back of the head Peter guessed. "So…you want to eat and or sell a Terran?"

Peter still unable to see anything could only guess Yondu's reaction but swore he was smiling. "I don't know gentlemen, you see if I had a Terran, he would be part of my crew…and you know how I feel about messing with ma crew".

Peter heard the low tune of the Yaka Arrow, fill the air as a few seconds later the boy heard four bodies simultaneously dropping to the ground, as footsteps came over to pull the coat off the boy, who could only blink as the blood spilled from the bodies and across the ally.

"Why". Peter stuttered as he surveyed the scene. "Because you're crew, you little shit". Yondu informed him casually as he picked up the boy to take back to his M-Ship. "And you've a lifetime as a Ravager to see people die, before you ask". As the boy gripped onto the red leather with all his might, and just nodded.

**Frozen**

"How come every time I take you out somewhere, all it leads is to drama?" Yondu bitched, as with Peter's support they finally made it to the roof of the cave and flopped onto the ground. Yondu's leg had been twisted from the impact, and he Peter had half walked half dragged him the two miles to the cave. To the boy's credit, he hadn't complained once as they wandered through the snow and ice, well until this moment when he became defensive. "Because one of the maintenance crew screwed up, and didn't repair the drive plate properly. Peter gasped as he tried to find his breath that came out icy. "Besides we got off the ship didn't we?"

"No thanks to you". Yondu grumbled as he lit two flares, against the ground and immediately a fire started, which bathed the cave in a soft glow. "Sorry, I'm not good at landings yet". Peter shivered as he crouched lower to the fire, and rubbed his arms. "There's an understatement" . Yondu said sarcastically as he double checked his pad for the recovery shuttle. "How many of those have you done anyway?"

"That was my first". Peter had the good sense to look sheepish which caused Yondu to blink. "So you've been on missions for two years, and no one has ever let you land?" He rubbed his finger and thumb between his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"I thought you already knew, the only thing they let me do is fuel it, and maybe if I'm lucky dock the ship".

"Dammit Peter, I knew I should have trained you". Yondu said more to himself as the ETA told him a ship would arrive at the cave in seven hours. Seven hours making conversation with the thirteen-year-old, screw that. "I'm going to sleep, wake me when the ship gets here". He told the boy as he stretched out against a rock and closed his eyes. If Yondu was hoping for a good kip, his eyes snapped open two hours later, by the muffled sounds of a shivering voice. The light from the flames had died down to a small flickering, and there sat Peter, pretty much unmoved from the last time Yondu had seen him, trembling widely, rubbing his hands against the almost dead flames.

"Dammit it boy". He said to himself, as he pulled his twisted leg up and made his way over. "Peter". He nudged the boy with the flat of his hand. Peter finally blinked and looked up to the Captain, his eyes looked like they were elsewhere glazed over and bloodshot. His skin was whiter than normal, with the tips of his fingers turning blue from the cold. Yondu realised how thin his jacket was, and how wet it was from the snow, that it was practically stuck to his skin from the cold.

"You idiot". Yondu said, as he slid back to the ground, and immediately pulled Peter's top and trousers off, Peter was too cold to protest or be modest, as Yondu shrugged off his coat, wrapped it around the boy like a blanket, and held him to his chest to get some body warmth. "Why didn't you tell me you were soaked and cold?"

"Thought you'd be mad", Peter murmured, and the heat begun to return to his body and he curled his frozen limbs up to Yondu and hugged him tight. Yondu was too cold to really care, as he felt the life return to the boy, and because he was bored, or so he claimed as begun to stroke the boy's hair until the shaking in his pathetic body subsided and he began to sleep easily.

Looking down at the boy, Youdu smiled softly. "You are hopeless, you know that…totally hopeless".

"Sorry", Peter whispered in his dreams and said no more until the rescue.

**Injured**

"Get out of the way Kraglin I need a medic now". Yondu yelled as he carried the boy through the med bay door, and placed him down flat on a table. Kraglin, who was only there to check the supplies, or rather the lack of them came over to the table, as Peter half moaned half screamed with pain. "What the hell happened, I thought it was a simple mission", Kraglin stated.

"It was until the bastard Kree suddenly appeared, we were heading back on the ship, when they fired". Yondu explained, as both of them surveyed the open bloody wound. "They shot Peter in the back…that's low even for them", claimed the First Mate

Yondu shook his head, "Five were firing at us, one of them got in a true shot and Peter dived in to stop it hitting me".

"The kid took a blaster for you…damn". Kraglin breathed as they looked at the damage. The shot had cut through from the shoulder blade, diagonally across the spine. Both of them could see the mess of pink and white Terran flash, and fragments of bone gaping through the skin, as the medic came in, having seen it all, and placed a hand to Peter's head.

"He's getting hot, too hot. Infection is setting it…do you want to bother?" It was a simple question, said to every member of the crew, but the twin looks of both Captain and First Mate made it clear, as the medic got a sterile dressing, needle and thread and some surgical alcohol.

"I can't give him anything for the pain, he's Terran and he's only fifteen. So he'll never recover from the dose". The medic advised him, whilst Peter moaned in pain, the tears spilling from his face. Normally Yondu would have told him that Ravagers didn't cry, but the kid was too deep in his delirium to notice anything.

"Here, hold him down, this is going to hurt". The medic advised as he pressed the alcohol to the boy's flesh, who let out the most desperate scream Yondu had ever heard, his head arched back, until it collapsed back against the bed, and he just wept.

"I'm going to have to gag him, if he doesn't shut up" . Advised the medic who was beginning to thread a needle. Yondu just glared at him, as Peter begun to try to inch off the bed, his hands moving widely until the came to the sleeve Yondu's coat and gripped the familiar leather tightly, his knuckles turning white. Yondu thinking quickly shrugged the coat off and placed the leather under the boy's head, for him to use as a pillow as he cried once more as more alcohol was run down his spine. "You're going alright boy, you're going to be alright". Yondu said, as Peter moaned into the leather.

Yondu realising that the boy was biting the material in a bid not to scream again, as the Captain and first mate held him flat as his back was put together. It took an hour to stitch the boy's back, but Yondu stayed with the boy for another three until he was confident that the infection was breaking. And he slid the coat from under the Peter's unconscious head, deciding not to raise the issue of the teenage teeth marks in the leather which would never come out.

**Given**

"So your first mission on your own ship…you nervous?" Peter Jason Quill ignored Horuz and looked up at the Milano, it had taken years, and a hell of a lot of modifications but it was finally his. Of course, he was still a Ravager, but now he could explore that big ass of a Universe out there. "I said are you nervous".

"Why the hell would I be nervous? Been going on missions, since I was a kid. Had more successes than you anyway". He correctly informed his crewmate as the rest of the hanger crew laughed behind him. As Peter looked up, he could see the face of Yondu through the glass, who would only give him a nod of encouragement.

He knew he wouldn't screw up for the Captain, both of them knew that as he typed the coordinates into the Milano's navigation array. Yondu was giving him an easy one, just a simple retrieval on a backass world. Nothing that Peter couldn't handle at the age of nineteen, as wearing a black t-shirt and jeans he stepped onto his own ship, running his hand over his stubble filled face and just grinned.

This was all his, no matter what happened as he slid into the Captain's chair, his chair and sent a request for the hanger to be open, and like the professional he had been taught to be, slid the ship out into deep space.

Yondu finally made it to the Bridge and slid into his own Captain's chair, as Kraglin looked up from his console and just blinked. "Is that a new coat?" Yondu shrugged and run a hand over the purple and maroon leather, a new purchase. "Thought I'd upgrade, been wearing the old damn thing for too long". He stated as he leaned back in his chair and put his feet out.

"Alezduran". The Kree Xandarian hybrid and their resident computer genius looked up, from his star charts. "Yeah boss". "Hack into the Milano's main computer, I want to see what Quill is up too?"

"Peter's Ship…sure".

"What kind of dumbass name is the Milano anyway" Yondu grumbled not for the first time, at the boy' choice of name, as the main screen flickered to the Milano and with Quill no longer in the Pilots seat, but standing next to the navigation seat, holding the jacket he had found folded up in the chair and was reading the message out loud.

"Peter, if you're going to be a Ravager, you're going to dress like one you little shit". Peter felt along the familiar fabric, noticing the teeth marks on one of the sleeves, at the same time as Kraglin. "You turned your coat into a jacket for him…Seriously!" His first mate said aloud, as they watched Peter slide the jacket on, and stand back admiring himself in one of the reflective screens.

"Thought it would be good for him, remind him of who his people are…teach him some responsibility". Yondu claimed, as with a look of total happiness, Peter pulled his Walkman out of his pocket, turned the volume up, and a second later was dancing around the cockpit to "Come and get your love". A song Yondu had heard many times and hated as the Centurian shook his head. "I worry about that that boy sometimes, I really do". With that said the Captain turned the screen back to the stars, and gave a small chuckle. "That boy really is hopeless isn't he?"

**The end**

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